Realtor's trial postponed until August

By Patsy Brumfield
Daily Journal
TUPELO – Real estate agent Cheryl Pine, accused of plotting to have her husband killed, was scheduled to go on trial Tuesday.
However, with a defense motion accusing law enforcement of “outrageous conduct,” it will be postponed until August.
The case and the dismissal motion are before Circuit Judge Paul Funderburk.
Pine’s attorney, James W. Craig of Jackson, also has notified the court that he will call a Ridgeland psychiatrist to testify she was temporarily insane.
A Lee County grand jury indicted Pine in late October, accusing her of conspiracy to murder and attempted murder.
Investigators claim Pine tried to hire a hitman to murder her husband, Jim.
At her arraignment, she pleaded not guilty and has been out of jail on $500,000 bond.
The defense’s May 8 motion asks the case to be dismissed because, it claims, law enforcement and Claude B. Sexton of Tupelo “created the crime … and invited Mrs. Pine to participate in it.”
Sexton reportedly was having a romantic affair with Pine, Craig writes, and convinced her to withdraw more than $300,000 from a brokerage account and turn the funds over to him.
A Daily Journal call to Sexton for comment revealed his listed number is not in service.